>> this is "bbc world news." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and

capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i'm kathy k. u.s. intelligence chiefs insist are legalg operations and legitimate. u.s. allies are not convinced. thousands of syrians fleeing a syria suburb. a bbc team is there to witness the exodus. inside ande trapped only a few thousand were able to escape. nothing was getting in.

to religion on the rails. this new york train is a moving synagogue. our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. askinge the menus to questions but today, america's top intelligence chiefs were summoned before a congressional committee to account protect it to have angered some of this country's closest allies. they defended the legality of completely and said false that they have collected millions of french and spanish records but they do not the nice buying on foreign leaders. -- they did not deny spying.

>> protesters are never far behind. was not called to appease americans. the audience for the event was europe and germany in particular. >> we do not spy except for valid foreign intelligence purposes and we'll may work within the law. >> angela merkel would very much like to know why the united states has been monitoring her cell phone calls, perhaps this will. invaluable to us to know where countries are coming from, what their policies are, how that would impact us across a whole range of issues. >> or maybe this defense of the program would go down better in berlin. >> it is much more important for our country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked. >> this leads to a lot of red

faces in the white house. it's not clear what president obama knew about the surveillance of foreign leaders, but it is awkward and may even force a change in policy. >> we give them policy direction but what we've seen over the last two years is the capacity continues to develop and expand which is why i'm initiating a review now to make sure that was a are able to do does not necessarily mean it is what they should be doing. >> washington's defense of the surveillance program is that everyone spies on everyone and a ay -- anyway but this is question of scale. nobody does a as big as america. >> i spoke with democratic congressman brad sherman who sits on the foreign affairs committee. mr. sherman, thank you for joining me. did you hear anything in the hearings today that justified to you what the surveillance programs might have been doing think you have a

series of interconnected and somewhat reckless decisions. of first was to give many the 500,000 people a security clearance access to far more information than they would have had before we began chanting that we need to connect the dots so that everyone needs to have access to everything. engage in expect to the secret activity and give private manning and contractor snow the ability to -- contractor snowed in the ability to download information that is beyond what has been shared with congress. thatu're going to have kind of leaky intelligence system, it is foolish to engage in the tapping of the phones of the leaders of our allies. game is very small in the risk of exposure is very large.

>> what is the downside of the revelation that, for example, chancellor merkel's cell phone might have been listened to. what is the price america might pay, do you fear you go >> america has prevailed not necessarily by being the most powerful country but bio being a leader in the most powerful alliance and you cannot maintain an alliance if you are reckless with the friendship of your allies. --would obviously angle or merkel and require her to take compensatory steps for her to reveal that we are bugging her cell phone. >> specifically, what kind of downside might the u.s. feel yucca what are the risks? -- might the u.s. feel? the system is so critical to knowing about international transfers of assets which has

been the real success in dealing with iran and international terrorism. for us to have that at risk for information gathered from the chancellor's cell phone of very questionable value clearly is a mistake, as was allowing so many people access to so much information. from thee heard intelligence chiefs today is that this is invaluable information america is gathering. >> i don't think there is anything on the chancellor's cell phone that is owing to help us stop terrorism. in the swift international financial network that will help us stop terrorism and stop financial flows and stop the iranian nuclear program. the intelligence community is in a position to hide behind their secrecy and say we are doing important work therefore everything we do is worth doing. just because we can do it, just

because it might be illegal under u.s. law does not mean that we should. >> congressman brad sherman, thank you for joining me. thousands of civilians are fleeing a suburb of the capital in damascus. it has been under siege from assad's is four months and according to opposition fighters, they tried to starve the people into submission. international correspondent is in sides. she has sent us the six dose of report on the exodus. exclusive this report. they have been under siege here for nine long months. to weak to walk. they are exhausted by their ordeal. sealed the area off telling them, surrender or starve.

civilians paid the price. thank god we are out. my body is shaking. there was no food. we had to eat grass. are the last of the civilians who were trapped damiya since march. only a few people were allowed to escape and nothing was allowed to enter. you could not even get a piece of bread inside moadamiya. the than 10 miles from capital, children dying of starvation and they sent messages begging the world to help. they have called for urgent access and the government finally agreed. whoever stayed, they say, is the enemy. >> they are terrorists.

those people are not our responsibility. women, children, the elderly taken to a shelter. men were separated from their families to be questioned of their involvement in the fight. in the home they left behind, the battle will now intensify. bbc news, moadamiya. civilianse are still stuck in the suburbs where the fighting continues. one year ago tonight, the eastern shore of america found itself battered underwater. superstorm sandy leaving havoc in her wake. 180 people died in neighborhoods were destroyed. we are in breezy point, new york, one of the hardest hit areas. how's the recovery effort going

there? peninsulahis narrow that juts out into the atlantic ocean vulnerable to flooding at the best of times and one year ago tonight, it was the worst of times. tide, a 14t high foot storm surge. think of the power of the wave down the wind recorded at more than 90 miles per hour in the new york harbor that destroyed homes here which started an inferno burning to the ground more than 100 homes on this trip where i'm standing now. resilientn and this and resourceful community has started to rebuild and many of those who live here are first responders, police officers, firefighters. the storm wreaked havoc up and down the eastern seaboard. we have a report on the struggle to rebuild the new jersey. >> things may be, on the

anniversary of superstorm sandy but it is anything but. >> the area we are standing in was the actual restaurant. >> this time last year, confronted by a scene of utter ruin. over $1aurant is valued million and she was only offered $9,000 by the insurance agency. >> i did everything possible to protect myself and we are not ok. they are not holding up their end of the bargain. >> rarely had america experienced such severe storm damage. the task of recovering the new jersey and new york skyline has hit by financial disputes. with so many victims battling insurance companies, the lawyers have come to town. >> how could he say there is no

difference? the roof is off the house. very sad to say that the people of my state where i grew up, my area being ravaged by the insurance company after having gone through this tremendous event of superstorm sandy. stronger than the storm, the message of this morale boosting campaign, but anger that these flashy advertisements are a waste of money while money should be going to those waiting for aid. this is a question about america's ability to rebuild. almost two thirds of the people who applied for federal assistance did not end up hitting any. it's led many to believe that the government has badly let them down. got.is is what we >> they received a handwritten letter from the president offering help.

later they released the money, but holdups at the state level means it has not yet arrived. >> you still have not got any money? >> no. >> one iran on. how does that feel? >> terrible. we are stuck here. andhere are vacant lots they are to show the helplessness of its victims. a, new jersey. >> the slow process of rebuilding in new jersey and here on breezy point, 300 55 homes were damaged on the night of the storm. only one of the homes has been completely rebuilt. the recovery is a long, complex, laborious, very bureaucratic process. this community has been well poised to take on that recovery because so many people here are first responders. think about what it's like in those poor are communities where they did not have home insurance to begin with, something i

discovered for myself when i went out to staten island. the struggle has been profound. >> people have asked for the insurance companies to give them money. they've asked the federal government. who are people blaming for the slow pace of recovery, not necessarily in breezy point but in the whole area? >> it's complicated. people tend to blame the bureaucracy but the whole process of rebuilding on the coastline is very different because you have rebuild build to a different standard. he houses are being rebuilt a high man they are elevated, being built far above the ground. they were at sea level before because of the risk of flooding, in an era of rising sea levels. it has taken a long time for those new guidelines for building and a floodplain to be issued by the federal government. there's a whole host of reasons that you have to be very determined, very honest to go

through this whole bureaucracy. in breezy point, they are determined. they've met tragedy before. people were killed in the 9/11 attacks back in 2001. alsoon breezy point down the seaboard, people are determined to rebuild. >> briefly, it's been one year. when do they think that there will be a normal, rebuilt community again? >> one home has been rebuilt in the hope is by the summer, the high season, that is why 100 years ago this community first sprung up so that communities can be by the seaside, the hope is that by the summer more homes will have an rebuilt but it's a long and lengthy process. >> laura, thank you. let's get a look at other news from around the world. kidnappedh hostages

by al qaeda four years ago have been released according to the french president. septemberabducted in 2010. he thanked the president of niger to help secure their release. the united states is finding d than even more isolate the cubs to the blockade of cuba. they have voted overwhelmingly to condemn the embargo which is more than five decades old. the 190 countries, just two, the u.s. and israel, opposed the resolution. three kenyan soldiers have been sacked after being found in possession of stolen goods that came from the shopping mall attack by the militants last month. it shows them carrying shopping bags out of the mall. two of them from a special combat unit have been jailed and a third is under investigation.

you're watching bbc world news america is still to come tonight, mystery surrounding yesterday's car crash in tandem and square. tianamen square. >> grigori are you wrap the superstorm sandy but today the residents of europe -- we have already heard about the superstorm's dandy but six killed in germany and five in britain. this was one of the worst in years to hit and recording wind gusts of up to 120 miles per hour. today, people in sweden, denmark, estonia remain without power. matthew price has the story for us. >> the storm done with the uk moved on to ravaged western europe towering into the danish coast, closing the link to sweden.

the wind up to 120 miles per hour. they ripped apart the metal scaffolding on this building in copenhagen. the wind sliced through brussels and amsterdam where among the canals of was the trees being uprooted by winds not felt in over 20 years. a woman died when one of them fell on her. across the netherlands, it is estimated repairs will cost some 70 million pounds. there is damage across large parts of europe. here in northern france and transport was hit hard. train services and airports experiencing huge delays and things are beginning to return to normal as the wind dies down. today, it is pretty much the calm after the storm yet this was a big weather event. the winds were among the strongest in the last decade. germany, several people died,

one man when this tree fell on his car. across europe, most countries were well prepared because warnings have been issued. while the cleanup begins, many feel it could have been a lot worse. >> now to china were unconfirmed reports suggest that a car crash and explosion in the heart of beijing yesterday may have been a suicide attempt. five people including three in the vehicle died when an suv drove past security barriers and crashed into pedestrians at tiananmen square. came the fiery crash in the heart of one of the most politically sensitive places in china. just below the country's iconic portrait of communist founder

mouse a dong. deng. tse to havencident seems been they planned a suicide attack. the people inside the suv have not been identified, says the same source. outside, vehicles are being stopped at a check point and a note circulated to city hotels indicating police are looking for two male suspect in connection with monday's episode. china's counties like this one that have witnessed violent clashes security forces. many of them blame the chinese authorities for suppressing their culture and customs. beijing, several people hurt by the speeding suv are receding treatment.

>> i thought up the car was going to hit us that we would die right there. it hit and it did not hit us. the car seemed to just appear. nobody noticed it. we were standing there and it suddenly came towards us. to the i moved one step side of the car rest past. >> to have been hard at work wiping messages to attempt to start any meaningful discussion about the incident. they're scrambling to connect the dots to figure out what exactly happened, they are not turning to the public for help. bbc news, beijing. to a story of religion on the rails. every morning, jewish commuters from long island use the hour- long train line to study the town load -- the talmud. in cars transformed into a

moving synagogue with a rabbi offering his spiritual guidance. the class has been taking place for more than two decades but many of the students are turning to modern technology to lighten their load. >> on the train we spent 45 minutes together reading text from centuries ago that even has relevance today. it's been going on now for close to 20 years and it's a vehicle for people to learn and spend time in a construct of way as they're making their way to work. it the initials of metro transit authority. it was the torah association. >> on good days, it's 45 minutes

and that's when it's on schedule but every once in a while, at least once a month, there's always a way. we always enjoy it and we have the opportunity to spend more time together and delve a little more into the text. the heck are you doing on my train during this? but we have a lot of people who will occasionally sit in and want to learn. typically i get out on the train and i take out my ipad that has everything from the bible to some of the more older texts and i open it up and i get to listen and like class. you can always take something that is ancient and bring it to life. it feels good because you are taking technology and adapting it to today and not just your traditional workflow. >> i have it on my android phone

a translatedve text in aramaic to modern english. isthe way it is structured references to many other areas in the talmud, the bible, other books. you can hyperlink to see the not be that you would able to really see otherwise. thisthink it's great that is able to blend into a person's day-to-day life and come into the fabric of his day-to-day activities. >> next time you are frittering away time, you could be doing something a whole lot more to it. that brings today to a close and you can carry on watching bbc

world news on our 24-hour channel if you look on your listings. if you would like to reach me at the bbc team, you can find us on twitter. thanks so much for watching. i will see you tomorrow. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, union bank, >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering

to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.